Introduction

By end of 2009, Information Technology outsourcing (ITO) revenues exceeded US$ 250 billion while those for Business Process outsourcing (BPO) were more than US$ 140 billion. The revenues from offshore outsourcing of business and Information Technology (IT) services exceeded US$ 60 billion, and over the next five years the compound annual growth rate for offshore outsourcing is expected to be about 20%. By 2006, over 200 firms from the Forbes 2000 companies and nearly 50% of the Fortune Global 250 had offshored IT and business process activities. In 2008 India posted some 65% of the ITO and 43% of the BPO market (Willcocks and Lacity, 2009). It is common to talk of Brazil, Russia, India and China as the BRIC inheritors of globalization, offering both offshore IT and back-office services, and also, with their vast populations and developing economies, huge potential markets. In 2008 India exported US$ 40 billion of such services, while China, Russia, and Brazil managed US$ 5 billion, US$ 3.65 billion, and US$ 800 million respectively. But the phenomenon of offshoring and offshore outsourcing is certainly expanding, with, on our count, some 120 centers developing around the world. Therefore it has become increasingly important to understand the phenomenon, not least as a basis for suggesting what directions it will take, its impacts, how it has been conducted, and how its management can be better facilitated.